Probe the disruption of NLC Election - Femi Falana SAN

Probe the disruption of NLC Election - Femi Falana SAN

Last week, the Nigeria Labour Congress held its triennial delegates conference at the international conference centre, Abuja. In the spirit of international solidarity the conference was well attended by labour leaders from all over the world. As Counsel to the Congress I was invited to the conference. To the embarrassment of the country the conference was violently disrupted by hired thugs who carted away the ballot papers and other voting materials. Thus, the conference was abruptly disrupted while the election of the national officers of the Congress was postponed indefinitely. Coming so soon after the simulated postponement of the nation's General Election the failure of the Congress to conduct its election has further exposed the country to ridicule before the international community.

The last time that the Congress witnessed a similar disruption of its election was at Benin, Edo state in February, 1984 when the Ibrahim Babangida junta instigated an imaginaryfictionalization which led to the dissolution of the structures of the Congress. For 4 years thereafter, the Congress was in disarray while the Structural Adjustment Programme was imposed on the Nigerian people at the behest of imperialism. Hence, without a coordinated resistance from the labour movement, the junta successfully prosecuted the anti-people's economic agenda of currency devaluation, retrenchment of workers, withdrawal of funding from social services, privatization of public assets and other anti-peoples' economic agenda. Although the Congress was restored in 1988 it was again proscribed together with the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (Nupeng) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (Pengassan) in 1994 by the Sani Abacha junta for demanding that a democratically elected government be inaugurated on the basis of the results of the June 12, 1993 presidential election.

As the 1993 scenario is being replayed by the service chiefs in cahoot with a faction of the ruling class the country is once again on the edge of a precipice. As the most organized civil society body in the country the Congress cannot afford to be distracted at this critical period in the life of the nation. History is beckoning to the Congress to play a leading role in ensuring that the fragile democratic process in the country is not truncated by desperate anti-democratic forces. Therefore, the leadership of the Congress should probe the disruption of its conference, reconvene as soon as possible and conclude the conference with the election of its national officers. However, I urge the labour leaders to ensure that the election is conducted in strict compliance with the provisions of the registered Constitution of the Congress.

Femi Falana SAN.